KITCHENS AND DINING ROOMS AT POMPEII ... - Get a Free Blog

and the company of a lovely girl. 228 Judging by the (male) literature, men's reasons for female
company at banquets primarily concerned the opportunity of love, or at least sexual relations. 229
Women of both high and low status were depicted as prizes at the table, taken by powerful
figures like emperors sometimes even from their own husbands. 230 Thus the precepts written on
the dining room walls of the Casa del Moralista at Pompeii advise guests not to make eyes at
other men's wives. 231 There was a clear connection between food and sex; one course at some
dinners was the women themselves. 232 Women were also known to entertain banqueters in the
roles of mimes, dancers, singers and musicians. 233 Despite the few and biased sources, there is
no doubt that many women enjoyed formal dinners in the company of men. Only the nature and
degree of their participation seems to have differed, according to their rank and status.
Rank and status
Rank was socio-political standing, given initially by birthright. In the Imperial Roman
world, rank ranged from the emperor, to senators, to equestrians, to free citizens, freedpersons,
and finally down to slaves. Promotion in rank was possible through emancipation, election to
office, or acclamation as emperor. Rank was largely a matter of ascribed prestige. Status on the
other hand was a measure of power, based on achievement or influence with others of higher
rank. 234 Social standing was a complex combination of these factors combined with wealth.
Wallace-Hadrill has remarked: "Roman domestic architecture is obsessionally concerned
with distinctions of social rank." 235 The social relations played out between people at an elite
dinner always involved aspects of rank or status. A standard satirical character is the social
parasite who angles for dinner invitations in the hope of gaining a standing invitation and
228Catul. 13; see Gowers 1993, 229-244 for a detailed analysis of this poem.
229For love affairs in the context of convivia, see Yardley 1991.
230Suet. Aug. 69, Cal. 36.
231CIL IV.7698; see above, p. 23.
232Mart. 9.2, 5.78; Historia Augusta, Gallieni Duo, 17.7; see Gowers 1993, 252-255, 258-259. Cooks as well as
servers could be connected to sex. In Apul. Met. 2.7, the female cook-slave refers to her sexual being as a
brazier (foculus). See DuBois 1988, 110-129 for Greek literary depictions of women as 'ovens'. See also Mart.
4.66.
233Cic. Fam. 9.26; Plin. Ep. 1.15. See also Gardner 1986, 245-246.
234 Definitions for rank and status follow Finley 1985, 45-61. Emperors had high rank and high status,
freedpersons of the imperial court low rank but high status, and common slaves both low rank and status.
The structure of social ordering was essentially pyramidal, with the few of highest status supported by an
ever increasing number of ever lower status individuals. See Alföldy 1985, 146, Fig. 1 for a diagram of this
social pyramid.
235 Wallace-Hadrill 1988, 52.
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